Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/125848
.... ., ~ ~ r. ~ .......,. .._ _ I...... ., _ ....d1t" ad _,..;.1 •. •••_ . 01 . . . . pnqa. Siu. Ot ~ k _ _ .,.... IlIre'" E••Ur ......... .. _ _ 15 _ ('yCl a Ill.' ..e . _ ...... .11........ KIDNEY BELT 10 "'" e-fortalll(l _hll . .... II o..&poM .. u l• • die '""-e ,... I ..,. . .lac ,.,rfotlterlll • • 111" NeIll. aM l iMC _ lUI _ ... . , . . WItt. ...-uu ........... .a- f • ,.... fallde. . . ..,. -wrqocU.. A.....II• . 'I1.'. ~~ "Lo ok out !" " Hel p." " Leggo my leg:' " O uch:' The uphill posed a few pro blems. This is w hat lhey call a bottleneck. The Calico Ghost Run : AIRCRAFT QUAUTY nmOWNS "FOR PEOPLE WHO NEED RESTRAINT" ....-. .." s.,.- •• . _ lot,. AMCIA --' _...." .., __ ~,~ I i., •• ~ ~ aeft..."... .. ~ a___ AHCR"· . _ ......, -"" No ghosts but plenty of wind __ ~ ~ycl • • - J "'. . . .. . , ..... ~."f __ AlfCa. · ~ . .. ","u• • ill .., ...... ,... By John Ulrich I_••• ...,... i ......... -.. e-4;"'.u. -.4 . ,,,,,-, .... • _ .1 ._"'. ..... ....,.. . .1_ _ a.., .. ~_ • .......i _ _, , _ . , .........,_1 . .... Ito " ...4 ".~ ,.lIi . _ , 101 " ANCI"·. T F,ot . ..1_ ••• _ FO UR CORNERS, CAL ., FEB. Ii ........ WI,, ~ " ,. ~ About 1,2 00 rid ers t urn ed out fo r the third Sp ortsman Racing Association (SRA) Calico Ghost Run Enduro, leaving both rain and a . f .. _ . , _ .. Ito • • "er. h. , .,... f, n ... leek. oe<- '•• 1 i. - - 4. •.f t I• • 11 , .... , . i. _Ito ~_I _ f.c• • f ... ..... c ,. , _ . W-I leo , " , ~_ _i_~ I, ..., h_ fin, to .. oec"-' _.il, , ~_ • •••m . "THE scarci ty o f gaso line behind in the Los Angeles b asin. While line s up to 75 cars lon g were reported at gas sta tions in TIEDOWN EXPERTS" SDID ~ _ "* OUR LATEST CA TALOG i! A_CRA Corp PJ50Je~ E. H:,.;IIiDO (,U.I~ .::l; SALES SERV ICE Welding Po rt ing Accessor ies 1352 Centinela, W. Los Angeles Corner of Sant a Monica Blvd. & Cent inela Opon 9 to 6 Tues-Sat 9 to 9 on Thursday • -;; ~ nta Mon ica B lvd . . .. . s C • u • a e n u Mania F rwy . 14 j .:: o th e metropolit an Lo s A ngel es area b y th e Los Angeles T imes, gas statio n ope rators in th e d ese rt were ta lking abo ut h avin g t o o m uch gas an d not eno ug h custo me rs. "Hell: ' said o ne at Fo ur Corners , " I've still got 40% of m y last allotment in m y tanks, an d m y nex t allotment is due a ny d a y . I don't know wh ere I'll put it. " Bu t if t he 2 ,0 00 pe op le at th e end uro site f or va r ious reasons (ri d ing , wat ch ing . su pporti ng. ect.] left behin d rain and gas-shortages. they d rove rig h t into b oth w inds and tal cum d ust. A bone-chilling blow ho wled its way t hrough th e pi ts Sa tu rday n ight, dropping temperature s a nd sett in g a sp ooky st age for t he en d uro. So m eth ing had to set the st age ; this yea r's end uro was o ver 40 miles from th e Cali co Ghost T own from which it originally took its name. The first loop was a study in easy-but-not-t oo -easy course design. The 25 mile loop was p u t together, as on most family endures, with the Beginner, Under 16, and Powder Puffers in mind. The SRA did a fair job of reaching the fine line between being too hard for Beginners and being flat boring for everybody. The emphasis was o n time keeping. and it was a great place to teach new comers what timekeeping is all abou t. Laid o u t mostly on dirt roads and flat trails with a m in im u m of whoops. the loop did feature one short, twis ty, n arrow, and semi-rocky downhill can y o n, but n o hills wo rth worrying abou t and no long sandwashes, In cluded in th e fir st loop was a m andato ry I 5 minute rest stop at which a c ate ring truck was on hand t o give out free (I ) hot apple cide r. It w as a very n ice touch afte r a while on the windy dese rt, eve n if the gus ts had d im in ish ed a b it . As p ro o f o f th e su ccessful b alan ce in t he firs t loop co urse, a Powder Pu ffer rid in g her fir st e n d uro on OUT m inut e did not have anv serio us troubl e. and Team Crash zero~d th e entire first loop. T he re was one blatant d etrac tion tho ugh . At th e second check, o ne yo ung Bo y , if we had a n outfit like t h is when we we re 11, we'd be world champion by now. wash and wear gh ost dressed in a sheet stalled se ve ral riders for one whole minute while he ran around frantically after his purple pen ran out of ink. And when other c h ec k e r s saw the bottleneck , they ran in an d started m ar kin g card s - two minutes late. The loop fin ished out with a not-too-soft wide sand freeway all the way home. . Not 10 be o u td o ne by other alphabet clubs st riv in g to be the most ch au vin istic sexist pigs in the desert, the SRA offered a specia l d eal to gir l riders at the beginn ing of the second loop. Any girl who d id better o n th e 40 mile loop th an SRA's own Bobbie Riggs (age 59) would w in a free fan cy dinner. Of co urse , sin ce (acco rd in g to the aging sage ) women bel ong a t home o r in bed and should n ever be seen on motorycles, he had no w orries. We'lI kn ow how it turned o u t next week. but it 's a shame Car ol yn Keull wasn' t rid ing th is e nd uro . T h e second lo op star te d o u t o n a road and stayed on the se t o f wheel track s fo r three m iles un til the fi st r check. It was he re that Team Crash found itself (according t o th e flip ca rds) nine min utes early . (We kn ew we were fas t, bu t m akin g up nine m inutes in three miles?) T he SRA c re w m ad e a slight error at th e c h ec k, and all time ca rds will b e adjuste d to allo w for the bo o-bo o. (Get it ? Bo o -boo . Ghosts. Get it?) Afte r m or e ro ad th e course turned off and wound its way up into some haunted-lo okin g hills rich with remnants of long-forsaken mining operations. Red ribbon m arked seemingly bottomless abysses where m en and m achinery once bored in t o the earth for gold and silve r. The w hite co u rse ribbons slithered in the w in d as the shafts howled. Beyond th e immediate crests as the trail wo un d up w ard s, the San Bernardino Mountain s shi mmered in snowy beauty, providing a stark co n trast to the har sh profiles of the rocky dese rt hills. Then it was down, dow n, d ow n the very twistiest, rockiest. and narrowest snake ca nyon in all the h ills so uth west of the pit ar ea , Lines fo rmed be hind m ore tim id riders, and braver sorts tried berserking it past by man hand ling machines over boulde rs and rid in g halfway up the ca n y o n walls around the smoother co m ers . A co uple of rock steps livened it up, as did several halted bikes. Rid ers with out adeq u ate bash